Light and Darkness (4)
Thud. Thud.
Deep in a forest where light barely reached.
The only sound ringing through the silent woods was the footsteps of me and the dark elves as we walked.
Dark elves, of all things.
I hadn't fought them. I had simply followed wherever they led.
Subduing them would have gained me nothing—finding their stronghold, I judged, was far better suited to completing the Scenario Quest.
That was when it happened.
"Master, someone has torn the vines apart by force."
"What?"
The vines that had covered the corpses of João and his Eclipse squad—it seemed someone had ripped them away.
"It looks like they took the bodies from underneath."
What the hell? Why?
I glanced down and lowered my gaze to Grang's Ring.
A 1-Star ring with dimensional sub-space magic woven into it.
Before I'd buried them, I had stored every piece of equipment the bastards had been wearing inside it.
With gear from over a hundred people, the ring's 1-Star capacity was nearly maxed out.
Which meant just looking at it filled me with satisfaction.
Why, you ask?
Because every last member of Eclipse had been decked out in nothing but the most expensive equipment money could buy.
And on top of that, the 9-Star items João had left behind were all [Legendary] grade without exception.
The bow he'd carried, [Judgment of the Celestial Bow] in particular, was a piece that could contend for the very top among all [Legendary] equipment.
Most of the rest had been gear suited to an Archer, but—
A handful of pieces like the ones above boasted monstrous specs—good enough that I could reasonably equip them myself once I climbed to the 9th floor.
No wonder they were able to push through Flame Storm and mount that kind of offensive, wearing gear like that.
To be sure, even those items had been subject to the Tower's restrictions at Floor 4 level—but they'd still proven there was a reason they weren't called 9-Star equipment for nothing.
Anyway.
Since I had collected every item, all that remained at the site were the bodies themselves.
Especially with João excluded, the vast majority of Eclipse had been burned to ash—little more than traces of corpses left behind.
And yet someone had dug through that?
Why, though?
The question filled my head.
"Unless it's a necromancer, there's no reason to take the bodies."
I nodded at Aleon's words.
Truthfully, I'd already suspected as much myself.
I was originally planning to send him back to South America, you know.
The King of South America. João.
However much we'd stood at opposite ends of a blade, he had been a body of the man once called a god.
As a courtesy to one who had all but reached transcendence, I'd intended to send his remains home.
His homeland was Brazil.
As far as I knew, Brazilian funeral customs included an all-night vigil of mourning for the departed.
Handing over João's remains would have upheld the dignity of the Seven Celestials—and left Brazil owing me a debt.
It was a situation that benefited me strategically as well.
But someone had thrown a wrench into my plans.
Let's say a necromancer did take them. If they resurrect João as an undead, could he recover his strength from life?
"No, they could not. Even resurrected through necromancy, the dead rarely reclaim even half their living power. At the very most, seventy percent. And João died while bound by the Tower's restrictions. Animate a corpse like that, and what you get is something on the level of a 4-Star Ascender at best."
Right. That was common sense.
Which made it all the harder to understand.
"Necromancers tend to be an eccentric lot. They may have taken the body for the sheer symbolism of commanding one of the Seven Celestials."
Hmm. That was probably the most plausible explanation.
It even occurred to me that it might have been Li Shang—that man—who moved.
He was one of the Seven Celestials, but he was known to be notoriously gloomy and perverse.
Holding a ballroom dance with corpses, for instance.
Or furnishing his own future tomb with dead bodies.
His ransacking of an entire tomb holding generations of chieftains from a small tribe, drawing condemnation from around the world, was still famous to this day.
Word is the man even looted a pyramid.
People said that the owner of the largest collection of mummies in the world was none other than Li Shang.
If that really was the case, then it was a shame.
To become a body that couldn't rest even in death.
My heart only went out to João's wife.
Just as these musings drew to a close—
We arrived at the dark elf village.
The dark elves' village nestled among colossal trees that admitted not a single ray of light.
Had it not been for the faint firefly-like motes drifting through the air, the darkness would have swallowed everything whole, making it impossible even to make out objects.
Truly children of the dark, aren't they.
"Dark elves have always favored darkness over light by nature, so it cannot be helped."
I see. Nodding inwardly at Aleon's explanation, I stepped into the dark elves' village.
"A human?"
"How did a human get in here...?"
"Hey, Keion! Where did you bring a human from?"
"By the Queen's command."
Crowds of dark elves murmured as they stared at me. Some hurled questions at the dark elf leading me.
It was only then that I learned the name of the dark elf guiding me at the front: Keion.
So what am I supposed to do here?
Light and Darkness. The Scenario Quest.
It had been startling enough to learn that dark elves dwelled beyond the Barrier of Light and Darkness.
The problem was that it remained unclear what exactly I was meant to do here.
"We shall find out soon enough, it seems."
Well, that would be nice.
Before long, I found myself standing before a colossal tree at the very heart of the village.
Keion abruptly dropped to one knee and called out.
The dozen-odd elves who had surrounded me did the same.
"Scout Captain Keion, requesting audience with Her Majesty the Queen."
The moment Keion's words ended—
A wooden door opened at the center of the great tree, and a figure presumed to be the queen of the dark elves emerged.
Whoa.
I swallowed a quiet gasp as I beheld the dark elf queen.
Despite skin nearly black as night, she possessed beauty of a staggering order.
It had been a while since beauty alone had stunned me like this.
Come to think of it, Han Gain flashed through my mind unbidden.
She carried looks that could stand toe-to-toe with that dark elf queen.
Comparing her against the dark elf queen, I can suddenly see exactly why word started spreading that she's the most beautiful woman in Korea.
These days, Han Gain was drawing more fame for her looks than for her skill as an Ascender.
Though she didn't seem particularly pleased about it.
"You've all worked hard. Bring him here."
At the dark elf queen's words, we moved toward the dwelling from which she had emerged.
The inside was more spacious than I'd expected, and other figures were already seated within.
"Elders, it seems."
Every one of them looked aged.
If elves—a long-lived race—appeared that old, it was impossible to fathom how many centuries they must have lived.
"Sit here."
The dark elf queen gestured to an empty seat among the table where the elders had gathered.
I obediently complied.
"Remarkable."
"To think an outsider would arrive, just as the prophecy foretold..."
"And a human, of all things."
The elders gazed at me as though I were some wondrous creature.
The feeling was mutual.
Elves age beautifully, don't they.
There were ten elders gathered here in all.
Five men, five women.
Like any old people, their faces were creased with wrinkles and their hair had faded of its color—but strangely, vitality still radiated from them.
Thanks to that, they looked dignified and beautiful even in their age.
It was a curious phenomenon.
"Elves are not called the race of beauty for nothing."
Pride rang clear in Aleon's voice.
He seemed immensely pleased to share a kinship with them.
Come to think of it, ever since we'd encountered the dark elves, something about Aleon had seemed oddly elated.
By any measure, we were deep inside the stronghold of dark elves—a dangerous foreign race—yet there wasn't the slightest hint of tension in him.
And the same goes for me, for that matter.
Why wasn't I nervous?
The power I could feel from these people, one and all, was formidable.
The elders and the queen especially radiated a strength that, under normal circumstances, I couldn't have hoped to stand against.
Of course, this was Floor 4—like João, they too were bound by the Tower's restrictions.
Was that why I felt no tension?
No. It isn't that.
It was something else.
Something more fundamental. A deeper instinct.
This was like—
like I was looking down at them from above.
Why, though?
Just as I sank into thought—
The dark elf queen's voice reached me.
"My greetings come late. I am Kanian, Queen of the Dark Elves. It is a pleasure to meet you."
"I'm called Kim Hajun."
There it goes again.
Before I knew it, casual speech just slipped out.
As though it were only natural.
As natural as breathing.
"Ho-ho."
Aleon, sensing the change in me, let out a low murmur of admiration.
What's this? Aleon seemed to know what phenomenon I was experiencing?
I wanted to ask him, but I was facing the dark elves now.
I focused on my conversation with Kanian.
"Rare audacity, for a human."
"I like it."
"As do I. Somehow, my eyes keep drifting back to you."
My attitude could, from a certain angle, have looked disrespectful toward their queen—yet the elders seemed delighted by it.
Kanian, for her part, didn't take issue with my manner either.
Well, then.
Thanks to that, I felt as comfortable as if I were in my own home.
"Kim Hajun. That is a name I've never heard before."
Kanian tilted her head, then continued.
"Very well, Kim Hajun. Prove to us that you are truly the prophesied one."
"...?"
I blinked at her words.
Then asked again.
"Hold on. Prophesied? What prophecy are you talking about?"
"...?"
At that, Kanian's face instead took on an expression of utter confusion.
"Are you not the prophesied one? According to the prophecy that has been passed down, the being who will end the long war between light and darkness will appear of his own accord, proving his right as he comes. Yet it seems you know nothing of the prophecy at all?"
"......"
Something about Kanian's words snagged in my mind.
She seemed to be speaking of the Scenario Quest, Light and Darkness.
But what was this?
I had never heard a single word about any of it.
Floor 4, the Manager's Chamber.
The manager, A-One, was enjoying a bath in the clouds.
What a magnificent fellow that man is, every time I think of him. Heh heh. To think he would awaken the Dragon Blood. The elves' dispute has been a thorn in our side for ages, but now it can be resolved with ease.
Since ancient times, the elves and dwarves had worshipped the dragons.
That worship had been engraved upon their very souls and passed down to the present day.
Because of it, the moment Kim Hajun appeared, the dispute among the elves was destined to end in short order.
Kim Hajun had become the only Ascender to bear the Dragon Blood.
"Wait a moment."
Something important seemed to have slipped his mind.
"Ah!"
Come to think of it, Kim Hajun's conduct had been so staggering that A-One had completely forgotten he was supposed to brief him on the Scenario Quest.
"Dear, dear."
His memory had been getting foggy lately.
Well, a fellow like that will manage just fine on his own.
If Hajun cleared the Scenario Quest even without his guidance—
He would simply petition the Tower to stack a little extra onto the rewards.
"Heh heh. I leave it in your hands, Kim Hajun."
Entrusting the rest to Kim Hajun, A-One settled back and once more began to luxuriate in his bath of clouds.
"...Given that you carry the key, you do seem to be the prophesied one."
Kanian narrowed her eyes at the Orb of Light and Darkness I held out.
"It seems further verification is required. Drop a drop of your blood into this."
With those words, Kanian held out a bowl filled with clear water.
"This is a bowl of sacred water. If you are the prophesied one, it will react to your blood."
"I just need to let a single drop fall?"
"Yes."
I nodded and nicked the tip of my index finger, coaxing a single bead of blood to the surface.
And just as I moved to let it fall near the clear water—
Clang!
I turned toward the sudden sound.
Kanian and the elders were all staring at me with eyes wide in sheer astonishment.
"A dr... dragon...?"
The single words Kanian managed to squeeze out.
It was a reaction I had never anticipated.